Corolla is a very important car for Toyota. I cannot stress it enough so I would leave it to sheers ‘numbers’ to tell you the whole story, more than 1/3rd of Toyota’s worldwide sales come from this model alone! The company sold more than 1.3 million Corolla’s worldwide in the last year, the same as the total number of passenger cars sold in India in 2007!
Over the past 40 years, Toyota has sold over 30 million of them in more than 143 countries world wide. This is by far the most successful nameplate in the Automobile history. It is to Toyota what Model-T was to Ford. On an average Toyota sells a Corolla somewhere every 40 seconds!

So when you look at the latest 10th generation Corolla Altis launched just recently in India, you really begin to wonder what exactly has changed over the previous Corolla except the Altis post fix, some liposuction here and some botox there. The new Corolla Altis has a similar silhouette as the old Corolla and viewed from behind a casual eye may even mistake it for the older car.

With Toyota it has always been a case of evolution as far as Corolla is concerned and you may even fault Toyota for that, anyone would especially after seeing what Honda has done to the latest, eighth generation Civic, but you shouldn’t and I’ll tell you why. You see its hard to fault Toyota primarily because when you have sold over 30 million of something you don’t change the recipe, you just tweak it, make it even better. This is exactly what Toyota has done, with each iteration it has improved the Corolla comprehensively and the latest Corolla Altis is no different. It takes forward whatever was good with the last generation Corolla by making it even better and addresses all the shortcomings to make it one helluva automobile. Read On!

Jump over for the complete review. Don’t miss the launch picture gallery at the end.

Looks, Design and Engineering.

Looks are typically Toyota, staid, understated and very evolutionary. The new Corolla Altis has a similar silhouette as the old Corolla and viewed from behind a casual eye may even mistake it for the older car but that’s where the similarities end. The Corolla Altis is based on a completely new platform even though the wheelbase is the same at 2600mm. The A-pillars have moved a bit further while the C-pillars has moved further aft resulting in lowered roofline which gives a sportier, lowered down look to the whole car while also improving the aerodynamic efficiency. Speaking of aerodynamic efficiency, the new Corolla Altis comes with a drag coefficient of only .29, one of the lowest in the segment.

The front end treatment is completely new and has much in common with the bigger and much more expensive Camry. It gets the same ‘jutted out’ headlamp and tail lamp treatment as the Camry. The headlamps and the front grille look almost the same as Camry except for size and some details. The headlamps also feature HID lamps in all but the base variant and come with jet washers to keep them clean at all times, a first for its segment.

The profile is now wider as well as lower resulting in greater stability and confident stance. Distinctive character lines with delicate sweeping curves and rounded edges further enhance the impression of breadth especially from the rear. Its not for your ‘eyes’ alone, the front and rear tracks are also wider resulting in more planted feel at higher speeds. The rear bumper has the same profile as on the older car but its more rounded and has a swelled out look to it. It looks pretty big viewed from behind so Toyota has given two circular reflectors at either end to break the monotony of the whole expanse.

The chassis is completely new and is much more stiffer than the outgoing car. Rigid mounts for the front and rear suspension result in better ride & handling and greater stability while ample ground clearance means that you wont kiss any of the oddly designed speed breakers sprinkled across the Indian cities.

Interiors and Comfort

Step in and you are immediately impressed by the interiors which look good, feel solid and score very high on ergonomics as well. The seats for example are perfectly placed for comfort, neither too low nor too high and doors which open wide contribute immensely to easy ingress and egress even for the older lot. The gearlever falls right under your hand. The seats themselves are supremely supportive all around. The top end variants also features 8-way electrically adjustable seats with lumbar support and a sliding central armrest, another first for its segment. There is no shortage of legroom front or back and the almost flat rear floor makes even the middle passenger comfortable.

The advanced and dynamic interiors feature a floating central console design with a flowing curve line. The horizontal character line of the instrument panel merges seamlessly with the door trims and conveys a sense of openness and comfort to the overall design.

Turn the ignition on and the Optitron meters glow in a beautiful white light with orange readouts for the odometer and the MID and red needles making the environment that much more inviting. Toyota has also worked on making the interiors as silent as possible with sound deadening material placed at strategic places. As a result the the insides are incredibly calm and relaxed. Once in side you are cocooned from all the noise and chaos, typical of an Indian city.

Finding a perfect driving position is ridiculously easy given the vast array of seat adjustments and tilt & telescopic adjustable steering wheel. Multifunction leather steering wheel with wooden inserts comes straight from the Camry and features controls for Audio and MID (Multi Information Display). The Audio system is a dash integrated 6-CD changer which also comes with an infra-red remote for the convenience of back seat passengers. The multi information display places a lot of information at your finger tips like real time mileage indicator, outside temperature, range based on the fuel in the fuel tank.

Toyota’s meticulous attention to details is visible in things like the puddle lamps which are placed on the doors to make it easier for passengers to get out in the dark and the inside rear view mirror is electro chromatic which lowers the reflectivity of the mirror surface automatically making night driving safer and more convenient. The outside rear view mirrors open and retract electrically while also featuring electric adjustment for viewing the traffic behind. The Automatic climate control AC is very effective even in the mid-afternoon Delhi heat and comes as standard even on the base variant. Top end models also get leather seats as standard. The only gripe we have with the interiors is the wooden finish on the central console which looks and feels less convincing.

Engine & Gearshift

Not much has changed with the engine; it is still the same 1.8 Litre IFZZE engine with DOHC and Toyota’s VVT-I which isn’t a bad news afterall. The engine was one of the strong points of the old Corolla and its exactly the same with the new Altis. Toyota engineers have managed to extract 7 bhp more resulting in a healthy 132 bhp under your right foot. Even the fuel efficiency claimed is the same as the old car inspite of higher weight and more power by tweaking the engine management systems and the related paraphernalia.

It is one of the creamiest 4 pot motor you will find in any car in India. The engine is incredibly smooth and silent. Its barely audible at idle and even at city cruising speeds. Even when pushed, it remains fairly smooth at the top end of its revv spectrum and emits a nice throaty growl. The low end torque remains strong which makes it one of the most tractable engine in any automobile in India. The Corolla Altis can putter around town all-day at low speeds in high gear without any strain whatsoever. The mid range is strong too and overtaking is a mere flex of the right foot. Put a gear down and you risk blowing the doors off of the other car, while you pass!

There’s not much to fault the gearshift too. The throw is nice and short and the gears slot perfectly. The only gripe is a little rubbery feel but that may be because the car was almost brand new. With time the gears will bed in and its not hard to imagine someone shifting gears just for the heck of it!

The automatic is a 4-speed super ECT transmission with sequential shift, if you crave for a manual transmission. Its pretty intelligent and will hang on to a gear if you floor the loud pedal for maximum acceleration. Put it into sequential shift mode and you can shift the gear by plodding the lever up to change to a higher gear and vice versa. While convenient it isn’t much fun driving the automatic. Even in the sequential mode the gear changes are far from swift, which mars the overall experience. The top end automatic also comes with cruise control which lets you cruise at a constant speed without having to step on the accelerator pedal. The set up and speed can be easily adjusted by moving the small lever which is conveniently placed to the right of the steering wheel. Toyota claims almost identical fuel efficiency figures for the manual and automatic under test conditions offcourse, 14.86 kmpl and 14.36 kmpl respectively.

Ride and Handling

With a stiffer new chassis and Toyota’s F1 prowess you will be forgiven for thinking that the new Corolla is a corner carver, its not. The set up is still soft and due importance has been given to failsafe road manners and ride rather than outright handling. Ride quality is the biggest surprise simply because you just don’t expect it to be so good. While the previous gen Corolla felt as if it would self destruct itself, going through a series of potholes, the new car does it with confidence and élan that could put many a European saloons in the same class to shame. The ride quality is very plush and the car smoothers potholes like no other. And though its not a delight around the corners, it would keep the family happy and more importantly, safe.

Pushed through a corner, the Corolla Altis rolls a fair bit but road holding and stability is never a problem even at high speeds. A series of quick directional changes make the back to step out a little bit and mid-corner corrections are necessary if you want to keep doing it at higher speeds.
To simply put the handling is fail safe and not very exciting but the ride quality is in a different league and to us this is perfectly acceptable compromise given our road conditions and day to day traffic.

Safety
Passive safety features include Toyota’s GOA (Global Outstanding Assessment) body structure which is designed for best impact dissipation in the event of a mishap. The new Corolla Altis also comes with Disc brakes on all four wheels with the latest generation ABS and EBD (Electronic Brake Force Distribution), Driver and Front Passenger air-bags. The top-end manual and automatic variants add whiplash injury lessening seats, HID headlamps which offer better visibility driving at nights with headlamp washers to keep theie performance at an optimum level under all weather conditions.

Overall
The new Corolla Altis is a thoroughly engineered car, much more so than even the previous generation cars were in their time. It’s a no-nonsense car that does everything well and comes with Toyota’s meticulous attention to detail and unsurpassable reliability record, something which is the envy of every other car manufacturer in the world.
Its no wonder then that Corolla is the largest selling car for Toyota worldwide and the new Altis would augment it even further.

The new Corolla Altis is all set to be a huge success with features and overall experience that will be acceptable to a lot more of the car buying public out there. The final blow comes by the way of pricing, which not only is a fair bit below its arch rival and global competitor Honda Civic, but also comes with more features to boot. Toyota has hit the nail right on its head this time, all the other have already been warned.

Gallery: Toyota Corolla Launch Event